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Barber-Ous
Barber-Ous was a uniquely-shaped robot that competed in three series of Robot Wars, also competing in the second series of Robot Wars Extreme. The original robot lost to Series 2 champions Panic Attack in the first round of Series 5, but not without damaging the latter's lifting forks. Barber-Ous 2 was more successful, making the Heat Final in Series 6, before being "mashed" by Hypno-Disc, while the third and final version, Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit, also fell in the first round of Series 7 after its outrigger shattered, causing its removable link to detach. Barber-Ous was originally built for a Discovery Channel competition called Robots Revenge but was deemed too powerful to compete. After Robot Wars ended, team captain Simon Rafferty kept Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit until 2015, in the hopes that Robot Wars would return to TV. The robot was eventually scrapped, just one year before the [[Robot Wars (2016 series)|2016 series of Robot Wars]] was announced. However, he has stated his intention to build Barber-Ous 3 for a potential future series. Team Rotraktor previously entered a robot called Rotraktor, which failed to qualify for the Fourth Wars, after it lost its qualifier battle against The Steel Avenger. Team Rotraktor also built Office Party which failed to qualify for Series 5. Versions of Barber-Ous The team decided to design after their previous entry, Rotraktor, failed to qualify for Series 4, with a producer explaining the robot looked boring. The team wanted to build a robot with an unusual design, and Simon Rafferty was inspired by seeing a rotating barber's pole. All versions of Barber-Ous that appeared on Robot Wars shared the same theme and design. It was a unique, two-wheeled cylinder-shaped robot with a top speed of 10mph and a full-bodied spinning drum painted red and white to resemble a barber's pole. The 'full-body drum' acted as both Barber-Ous's weapon and body, and was fitted with metal barbs in order to flip and cause tremendous damage to other robots. The robot's main body was made out of plastic, a rare choice of material for robot armour. Barber-Ous The original Barber-Ous that competed in Series 5 featured a much narrower drum than its later incarnations, as well as thin transparent wheels and two large yellow guiding bars with wheels which presumably helped the robot steer forwards and backwards if it was inverted. Barber-Ous 2 Barber-Ous 2 was rebuilt for Series 6 with a much wider drum and smaller, but thicker wheels, enabling it to have a greater surface area to attack robots more effectively. It also initially had red, black and white frames with castors which surrounded the wheels, similar in purpose to the previous guiding bars and offering both wheels some degree of protection. It could reach 10mph. For Extreme 2, Barber-Ous 2 was fitted with flexible rubber wheels in order to better withstand side-on impacts, making those frames obsolete, and a pair of small yellow flanges were added in between the wheels and the drum to aid the robot's steering. Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit remained largely identical to the Extreme 2 version of Barber-Ous 2, however it featured a tougher construction and more flexible removable links which were intended to make it more resilient against the impacts of its own drum. However, the recoil of Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit's drum was still enough to immobilise it in the first round of the main competition in Series 7. Qualification At the Series 5 Qualifiers, Barber-Ous fought Razer first. It also fought Invertabrat in another qualifier battle. It started well, throwing Invertabrat in the air with its drum, but then broke down and was pitted by Shunt. However, Barber-Ous was still chosen to compete, unlike Invertabrat. Barber-Ous 2 fought Demolition Man and ICU at the Series 6 qualifiers. The winner of the battle is unknown, but all three robots qualified. http://dangerousvegetables.tripod.com/kc2/archive-5-7-02.htm At the Series 7 qualifiers, Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit was drawn against Alchemy, Colossus and Lightning. Alchemy broke down at the start of the battle. Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit lost to Lightning when it lost a wheel and broke down, but both it and Colossus recieved discretionary places. http://web.archive.org/web/20060208175134/http://www.calvertfilm.fsnet.co.uk/robotdiary3.htm Robot History Series 5 Barber-Ous made its Robot Wars debut against sixth seeds and former champions Panic Attack. Panic Attack got underneath Barber-Ous and lifted it up, but the shape of Barber-Ous made it hard to get a grip with the lifting forks. Barber-Ous came on the attack, causing damage to the top armour of the Welsh robot and rendering the forks useless. The attack wasn't without damage to Barber-Ous itself though, as the rotating drum came to a halt. This allowed Panic Attack to push Barber-Ous into Sergeant Bash which caused Barber-Ous to lose drive on one side. It was powerless to prevent Panic Attack from pitting it. Series 6 Barber-Ous 2 returned much improved since the last series. Its first battle saw it against 4x4, Granny's Revenge 2 and Hypno-Disc. Nevertheless, Barber-Ous 2 went straight on the attack, almost flinging Granny's Revenge 2 out of the arena in the process. Leaving the wrecked robot, which Barber-Ous had immobilised, it hacked into 4x4, with 4x4's cloth snag getting tangled on Barber-Ous 2's weapon. At this stage, Barber-Ous had also immobilised 4x4, but shortly afterwards, Hypno-Disc landed a blow on Barber-Ous, shredding the cloth and the armour and causing the weapon to stop. Barber-Ous 2 had survived the attack, but more followed and Barber-Ous 2 broke down. However, as the last robot to have done so, it went through. In-between battles however, it was revealed that the wheels of Barber-Ous 2 had been severely damaged by Hypno-Disc. The team could not repair them and were forced to equip a new, untested system. However, these wheels proved to be better as it effectively beat Kat 3. At the start of the battle Kat 3 missed with its first axe blow and Barber-Ous 2 struck Kat 3's side removing a chunk of its side armour before overturning it and pushing the axe-wielding robot towards the wall. Kat 3, on its side, attempted to self-right, but was unable to after the axe head was damaged. Kat 3 was subsequently counted out by Refbot and eliminated. Sir Killalot then dragged Kat 3 onto the floor flipper where in another attempt at self-righting the latter lost the end of its own axe after it had been almost torn off by Sir Killalot's claw. Kat 3 was then thrown into the air, and cease was finally called. In the Heat Final, Barber-Ous met Hypno-Disc again. Both robots got their weapons up to speed and circled around each other, before Hypno-Disc hit Barber-Ous 2, also getting thrown by Barber-Ous 2's drum, but Barber-Ous 2 had lost mobility after the hit from the 3-time UK Grand-Finalist. Barber-Ous 2's drum was still spinning, so Hypno-Disc bashed it again which stopped it and also damaged the robot, which was left tattered. Hypno-Disc hit Barber-Ous more times, edging it closer to the pit, where Refbot counted out the immobilised Barber-Ous 2. Shunt finished it off by finally shoving it into the pit. Extreme 2 Barber-Ous singularly competed in the Challenge Belt competition. In the eliminator, Barber-Ous 2 threw Iron-Awe 2 over with its spinning barber's pole weapon, however Iron-Awe 2 self-righted. Vader was then pinned by the two axes of Terrorhurtz and Shunt, also wedging Iron-Awe 2 in, allowing Barber-Ous 2 to attack without retaliation. Vader was hacked into submission by Terrorhurtz and Shunt. With Vader out, Barber-Ous was picked on by Iron-Awe and Terrorhurtz. Iron-Awe 2 then flipped Barber-Ous 2, but ended up balancing on its rear after Barber-Ous 2 remained stuck in its axe. Terrorhurtz attacked Barber-Ous 2 as Iron-Awe 2 threw itself onto its back, with both it and Barber-Ous 2 still stuck together while Vader was thrown out of the arena by Matilda's flywheel. Once freed, Iron-Awe 2 was left unable to self-right and Barber-Ous 2 lay immobile, the latter being pitted by Terrorhurtz. With Terrorhurtz being the last robot still mobile, the judges were called to determine which other competitor would progress with it. The Judges ruled that Barber-Ous 2 was immobilised before Iron-Awe 2 was turned over, allowing Iron-Awe 2 through to the next round along with Terrorhurtz. Series 7 Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit returned with a stronger construction than in the Sixth Wars. In its first round battle, Thunderpants broke down on entry to the arena, leaving Barber-Ous to fight Leveller 2 and Tetanus Booster in a three-way battle. It managed to hit the wedge-shaped Leveller 2 twice, flipping it over once. However, the aggressive attacks of Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit knocked out its own removable link, rendering it immobile. It was counted out by Refbot and left to the mercy of Mr. Psycho. Barber-Ous was carried through the air, and dropped into the pit. Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit also featured in the "Battle of the Spinners" special event of Heat C alongside Infernal Contraption and Shredder Evolution. It traded a few blows with the other robots, notably tearing off one of Shredder Evolution's wheel guards. It was performing well until Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit and Infernal Contraption were trapped by Mr Psycho in the CPZ, and the House Robot turned on the spot and inadvertently pushed Barber-Ous 2 n' a Bit into the pit using its claw. Shredder Evolution won the battle. Results |} |} |} BarberousConstruction.jpg|Barber-Ous during construction Barbteam.jpg|Team Rotraktor in the pits File:Barberous_and_cakes.jpg|Barber-Ous 2 in the pits during Series 6 Barber-Ous 2 internals.png|The insides of Barber-Ous with the drum removed BarbTest.jpg|Barber-Ous 2, unpainted, during testing Wins/Losses *Wins: 2 *Losses: 5 Series Record Trivia *In all five of its losses, Barber-Ous was pitted. *'Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit', Iron-Awe 2.1, Sub-Version 1.1, Malc 1.5 and Judge Shred 2½ are the only robots to be named part sequentially, with Barber-Ous being the only one not to specify a decimal or fraction. External Links *Barber-Ous website {archived} References Category:UK Series competitors Category:Robots with more Losses than Wins Category:Robots that debuted in Series 5 Category:Robots from West Sussex Category:Robots with alternate versions Category:Robots to never have a judges' decision Category:Robots with Drums Category:Invertible Robots Category:Robots to appear in Battle Cards Pack 4 Category:UK Heat Finalists Category:Robots with puns for names